Just days after President Bola Tinubu facilitated a high-level peace meeting in Abuja aimed at resolving the prolonged political crisis in Rivers State, the so-called truce appears to be unraveling. Prominent stakeholders from the oil-rich state have rejected the terms of the reconciliation between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his estranged political benefactor, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike—describing the outcome as “a peace of the graveyard.”
The peace parley, held Thursday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, brought together Governor Fubara, Wike, Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly Martins Amaewhule, and other lawmakers, with President Tinubu presiding. At the end of the closed-door meeting, the parties agreed to a ceasefire and pledged to work together in the interest of peace and governance.
However, several political voices in Rivers State have condemned the reconciliation, saying it lacked fairness, transparency, and local representation. “It was not reconciliation; it was surrender,” said Leloonu Nwabubasa, a former Commissioner for Employment and Empowerment in the state.
“A meeting without a delegation representing the governor is not balanced. It’s clear Wike is positioning himself for 2027 and wants to maintain control of Rivers politics.”
Human rights activist and member of the Rivers State Elders Council, Ann-Kio Briggs, also rejected the agreement, claiming the governor was “thrown under the bus” in a lopsided deal. “This is the peace of the graveyard,” she warned. “The President has turned it into a political issue, even though it concerns the internal affairs of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), not the APC.”